As reported by the Cochrane Eagle on September 20, 2021, “Town of Cochrane commits to Truth and Reconciliation, declares Sept. 30 a stat holiday”.
This followed upon Justin Trudeau creating a federal statutory holiday through legislative amendments made by Parliament through Bill C-5, which received Royal Assent on June 3, 2021. It’s not as if federal civil servants decided to give themselves a paid federal holiday. Not so, however, in the case of Cochrane’s Administration. As clarified with the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Michael Derricott, “Town administration, of which I am the senior officer, made the determination that our organization would observe the September 30th federal holiday. As with other observed holidays staff will take the day off with pay”.
There you have it, our self-serving, woke Town Administration decided to take the day off with pay, making such a ‘sacrifice’, dipping into the taxes that I and other residents pay to the Town, so that they could virtue signal about their commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. Note that the Cochrane Eagle reported that “the Town of Cochrane will recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30 as a statutory holiday”. One needs to be attentive to the use of the phrase “the Town of Cochrane”. In most cases the Town’s residents would understand that to mean that such a recognition was decided upon by our Town’s elected representatives, whereas this was a decision made by the unelected Administration. That article by the Cochrane Eagle should have read, “Town of Cochrane’s Administration commits to Truth and Reconciliation, declares Sept. 30 a stat holiday”.
According to the Town’s Organizational Chart, authority flows from the Town’s representatives, Mayor & Council, who are elected by the Town’s residents, down (see the direction of the arrow) to the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) who is responsible for the Town’s Administration.
As was the case with the Administration’s decision to give themselves a day off, they often see themselves as “the Town of Cochrane”, reversing the direction of that arrow and flow of authority.
Staff drawn from the various departments of the Town’s Administration are part of an Equity and Inclusion (E&I) Committee, which is “Committed to advancing equity, inclusion & diversity within our departments”. On February 22, 2021, the E&I Committee provided an update on its activities to Cochrane’s Town Council. One of the slides from that presentation identified its objective was to advance a Town of Cochrane social policy that “creates social change”. Recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30 as a statutory holiday aligns with their objective to create social change. However, the ultimate decision to authrize such a paid day off rested with the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Michael Derricott. Noteworthy, according to a survey of the candidates for Town Council prior to the election, a majority of the newly-elected councillors, see creating social change in the Town as one of their responsibilities as elected Town Councillors.
In an Editorial appearing on September 30, the Cochrane Eagle noted that “Some are criticizing the Town … for taking another paid day off”. No kidding. But the Cochrane Eagle came to the defense of the Town Administration, assuring us that “Truth and Reconciliation not another day off”. In other words, don’t believe what you see. To some degree the position of the Cochrane Eagle, siding with the Town’s woke Administration, is understandable in that I understand that the Cochrane Eagle receives some income from the Town from publishing Town notices and information. What’s more the Cochrane Eagle has been the recipient of bailouts from the Trudeau government. The most recent example of the Cochrane Eagle receiving a bailout from the federal government was it along with about 1500 other media outlets benefiting from Trudeau’s $61M pre-election “emergency relief”. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department refused to name publishers awarded such handouts. However, such information was secured by independent media Rebel News and Canadaland through freedom of information requests.
The retrieved list revealed that the Cochrane Eagle was the recipient of $68,844 from Justin Trudeau’s $61-million pre-election pay-off. The Cochrane Eagle is part of Great West Newspapers Limited, a publisher of weekly community newspapers in the province of Alberta, headquartered in St. Albert, Alberta. Other papers in the Great West Newspapers chain were also beneficiaries of Trudeau’s largesse: St Albert Gazette ($235,934), Airdrie City View ($38,792), Western Wheel ($127,692), Bonnyville Nouvelle ($41,849), Rocky Mountain Outlook ($213,402), thereby receiving a total of $684,664 from Trudeau’s handout. Most will understand the meaning of the expression, ‘he who pays the piper, calls the tune’.